Surrender to Love: The Christ-Centered Contemplative Journey
Ruah Bull, Ph.D., Spiritual Director, The Journey Center
Original Date: Thursday, Nov. 8, 2012

Download MP3 Audio File Here (13.6 MB)

The Christian spiritual journey is one of ever-increasing experience of intimacy with the God that is closer than our own breath. In this evening's presentation we'll explore Trappist monk, Thomas Keating's, description of a foundational aspect of this journey—the unraveling of the false self by The Holy Spirit (the Divine Physician) and emergence of the true-self-in-Christ that knows, with the apostle Paul, that "now it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me" (Gal.2:20). We'll learn about the contemplative prayer practices that help to prepare us for the gift of divine union, and have the chance to practice one of them—lectio divina, an ancient form of entering deeply into scripture that can be brought to any spiritual reading, including poetry. This prayer form helps us to prepare to receive and integrate the grace that releases our false programs for happiness and invites us more deeply into Love. And as we move more fully into Love we discover, with St. Augustine, that "our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee". We'll also consider briefly the "contemplative explosion" that has been moving through the Christian churches, and how it has helped to bring contemplatives from many traditions into fruitful and creative dialogue and community.

Ruah Bull Ph.D. is a spiritual director in Santa Rosa and Petaluma and specializes in supporting the contemplative journeys of Christians and Spiritual Eclectics. She facilitates contemplative prayer groups and teaches classes in the Christian contemplative journey at The Journey Center in Santa Rosa and throughout the area.

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